White House launches probe into CIA station chief disclosure

The White House has launched an investigation into how the name of the CIA’s station chief in Afghanistan was released to the press Sunday during President Barack Obama’s surprise visit to U.S. troops there, officials said.

New White House Counsel Neil Eggleston will conduct the review at the request of White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

The comments from Hayden and Blinken broke the Obama administration’s official silence on the episode since Sunday, when the White House sent the CIA official’s name to a pool reporter as part of a list of officials briefing Obama during his short visit to Bagram Air Base near Kabul. The list was later updated to remove the CIA officer’s name, but the list had already been distributed to thousands of journalists and news organizations that receive pool reports from the White House.

The new White House comments on the probe did not name the CIA official, nor did they confirm his role as chief of station for the spy agency in Kabul. Even after the statements Tuesday from Obama aides, the CIA continued to have no comment on the incident.

The White House statements Tuesday framed the inquiry as a review aimed at preventing future disclosures rather than assigning blame for Sunday’s incident.

However, if disclosure of the CIA officer’s name or his affiliation may have violated the law, the agency may be required to report the disclosure to the Justice Department, which can mount a criminal investigation.

A spokeswoman for the Defense Department’s inspector general’s office, which investigates misconduct in the military, said Tuesday that there was insufficient information about military involvement for that office to open an inquiry.

“While DoD IG does not comment on investigations or investigative matters, additional facts about DoD involvement would be necessary before a final determination could be made that would warrant DoD IG involvement in the matter,” spokeswoman Bridget Serchak wrote.

A State Department spokesman didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about the incident.

Government officials asked journalists not to publish the CIA official’s name. Most complied with the request, but the breadth of distribution of the pool report means a variety of news organizations around the world now have the information — as do a number of foreign governments.

CIA chiefs of station in countries like Afghanistan are usually known to senior government officials, but the agency tries to keep their names secret in order to avoid assassination attempts and to allow the CIA personnel to serve in undercover roles in other parts of the world.